How to reduce energy use and save money

Using less energy will reduce your energy costs. To do that, you need to know how energy is used around your home and where it is wasted.

We’ve gathered some tips on how to save energy in the kitchen, laundry room, bathroom and other areas in your home.

The kitchen can use a lot of electricity! Cooking with the stove or oven, running the microwave and countertop appliances, and keeping things cool in the fridge all require energy. Here are some ways you can adjust your habits to save energy in the kitchen.

Using the stove and oven

If you have a gas stove, make sure the flame only reaches the bottom of the pot. If the flame is engulfing your pot, it is wasting energy and can be a fire hazard.  In addition, make sure your pot lids fit tightly and keep them on when possible during cooking. A tight-fitting lid will help your food heat quickly while using less energy.

You can also turn off the stovetop burner in the last two to three minutes of cooking time. The residual heat will keep cooking your food without using additional energy. And if you want to boil water, consider using an electric kettle instead of the stovetop burner. Electric kettles generally use less energy, and you can keep them running efficiently by cleaning them regularly.

Like an electric kettle, an electric skillet can be more efficient than a stovetop burner. For some meals, it can reduce cooking time and energy use.

Turn on the oven light to check your meal instead of opening the door. Opening the door causes heat to escape, and your oven will use more energy to heat up again. You can also turn the oven off for the last ten minutes of cooking. Like the stove burner, that residual heat will finish the job.

Using the fridge and freezer

The most efficient temperatures to set your fridge and freezer are 4°C for the refrigerator and -18 °C for the freezer. If you want to check the temperature, pick up a fridge thermometer at a major appliance dealer.

If you have leftovers, let them cool down on the counter before putting them in the fridge. Putting hot food in the fridge will make it work harder to cool it down, using more electricity.

If you’re buying a new freezer and want to save energy, get a chest freezer instead of an upright model. The door on a chest unit releases less of the freezer's cold air, reducing the energy used to maintain its temperature.

Make the most of your freezer. Match the size of your freezer with your needs. If you can get by with your fridge freezer, unplug your extra deep freezer until you really need it again.

Fill your freezer. Keeping a freezer full uses less energy. Warm air from an opened door will have less space to fill. Any warm air that does get in will be quickly cooled by frozen items already in the freezer. Generally, a full freezer uses more than an empty one because all that frozen food keeps the temperature low.

Using the dishwasher

Depending on your dishwasher, you might not have to rinse your dishes before using it. Make sure you scrape off extra food, put it in, and let the dishwasher do the rest. Learn more ways to save water at home.

Your dishwasher also has a filter that needs to be cleaned regularly. Bits of food and other gunk can get in there and reduce efficiency.